Duodenoscope is widely used in the diagnosis and treatments of diseases in liver, gall bladder and pancreas, especially as an essential and irreplaceable device for the procedure of Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography ERCP and minimally invasive surgery. However, inadequate disinfection of duodenoscopes has been a top medical hazard. Autoclave cannot be applied due to the intolerance of the charge—coupled device CCD—a component material of endoscope, to high temperature and pressure. In the operation part, steel wire was used to control the forceps elevator to lift up and down, and the structure is quite complicated with wire leading orifices. The disinfection is inadequate due to disinfection limitations. This patented duodenoscope has even more complicated structure inside and carries more risks than common duodenoscope.
To use disposable material covering the endoscope is the most reliable way to prevent infections of endoscopes, eg. In a Chinese patent 201510461920.8 (application date: Jul. 31, 2015): To use a disposable consumable cover the endoscope to separate all contacting surfaces between patients and endoscope. However, it resulted in compromised image quality due to that stray light is produced as there are gaps between the distal end of endoscope and covering end cap. Based on this patent, we further modified the structure to solve the problem brought by stray light.